Although he was chairman of NBCUniversal Sports, Ebersol had influence throughout the NBC network. He joined NBC in the mid-1970s to develop late-night programming, including "Saturday Night Live." He also at one time oversaw the morning show "Today" and was in charge when popular anchor Jane Pauley was moved aside in favor of Deborah Norville.

More recently he was instrumental in the move to return Jay Leno to late night and harshly critical of Conan O'Brien, who later left for TBS.

In Lazarus, Comcast will have a much lower-profile invidividual in that role, although also one who has not had the same level of experience in producing major events such as the Olympics.